Read of the day

Looks like Tom Friedman is in India doing i dunno what - making documentaries for discovery channel - i guess.

Heres something interesting hes written. I always thought Mr. Gupta speaks too much - just like me - you cant just oversimplify these things. He does have a point - Indians & chinese will buy up all these subprime mortgages and help straighten things out.

More wonkish gyaan - I am sure its been written in various forms in the past - The fundamental issue of the disparity in wages.

NYtimes says - some auto sector workers were paid a staggering USD 28 a hour - USD 5600 a month - (Ref here) - that im sure that is more than what i make every year (um, well atleast for the sake of argument) for supervising shop floor workers ? wow

Of course, we all know that the minimum wage per hour in the US is close to USD 8 (correct me if im wrong) = 1600 dollars a month = 20,000 dollars a year - which i guess is an amount with which one can still make a living in the US.

This incidentally is the same amount T makes with an Investment bank in India - after slogging like a dog through an IIM degree, working 12 hours a day now, sharing lodgings with amit123 types.

The US dollar in the US most definitely offers far less bang for every buck - vis-a-vis what it can do in India, in China - this has like created an arbitrage - no wonder infosys, tcs ship workers to the US in shiploads - im sure they all work at USD 8 an hour - and Infosys billing clients at USD 20 / hr - still FAR lower than what theyd have to pay a yank with an attitude & a lifestyle.

The same logic applies when discussing mental attitudes of some of these NRI types - they're sure to find jobs paying 30 / 40 grand (in dollars) for being secretaries or production supervisors in textile mills or washing test tubes - and even if they save / send back 10 grand a year - its still more than what they take in as salary in India for equivalent positions.

All this too confusing. But it reminds to redouble efforts to become really really rich real soon because i am sure that 3/4 years down the line il have to offer the soon to be NRI Idiot sibling a job paying more than what a doctor in the US can potentially make every year.

Please feel free to curse and rant if u dont like to read such posts - strangely - this is all i can think of these days.